Our organisation currently issues staff with paper payslips. Can we insist on emailing out all payslips in the future?

The Payment of Wages Act 1991 (the “1991 Act”) states that an employer must furnish an employee with a statement in writing specifying the gross pay due to the employee and details of deductions from this pay. Although the 1991 Act requires this statement to be issued “in writing”, it provides no definition of the phrase. Therefore it would appear that an employer’s obligation under the 1991 Act is discharged by the provision of electronic payslips to employees.

The Electronic Commerce Act 2000 (as amended) (the “2000 Act”) provides that if a person (i.e. an employer) is required to furnish certain information "in writing" (i.e. a payslip), the writing may be furnished in electronic form if